Designing Education Theaters On The Trade Show Floor July 12, 2013 by Dave Lutz Attracting and keeping quality attendees on your show floor isn’t getting any easier. The way we, as consumers and businesses, research and buy products and services has evolved — and so must the trade-show experience. The trade show of the future will focus on helping over selling, which is best accomplished by delivering valuable education … [Read more…] Filed Under: Experience Design, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , Education & Adult Learning, engagement, exhibit floor, expo, trade show
Conference Speaker Benchmarking Report – Last Chance July 9, 2013 by Dave Lutz Are you responsible for designing the education program for a conference that attracts 500 or more attendees? Does your organization contract professional speakers? Do you manage a call for papers or abstracts? If you answered YES to two or more of the questions above, we encourage you to take 10 minutes and contribute to the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , professional speakers, speaker
The Transformative Power Of Peerology June 21, 2013 by Dave Lutz In the world of conference education, the future is not necessarily about the next technology gadget or innovative session format. It’s about something that is as old as disco balls, platform shoes and shag carpeting: peerology. SME — Subject Matter Experts — has long been an important component of education session development. But it’s time … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference best practices, conference education, conferences, education best practices, paragogy, peerology
We Need Your Help: Industry And Professional Speaker Research June 10, 2013 by Dave Lutz Two years ago, many of you contributed to a special research project that we conducted with Tagoras, a leading market research and consulting company for learning. This research identified trends for hiring professional speakers and provided insight for selecting and delivering concurrent sessions with industry speakers at major conferences. If you’re like us, you believe … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings Tagged With: , conference education
Why Your Conference Needs More Connexity: Community And Connections May 15, 2013 by Dave Lutz With information accessible 24/7 online, networking has become one of the primary reasons people choose to attend your conference. The opportunity to connect face-to-face is too critical to be happenstance. Creating Conference Connections That Matter Conference attendees want dedicated time that they can connect with individuals to share stories, insight and experiences. Speed networking is … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Networking, Experience Design Tagged With: , community, conference best practices, conferences, connect, connexity, meetings as connections, networking
Two Extremes Of Conference Content Capture: Bite Size Best April 18, 2013 by Dave Lutz Do you provide content capture of your conference sessions? If you do, are your conference recordings experiencing a decline in consumption, especially those synced to PowerPoint? If not, I predict it’s just a matter of time before your royalties evaporate. Learning Re-enforcement and Attraction Capturing content at your premier face-to-face conferences is a must! Capturing … [Read more…] Filed Under: Event Technology, Experience Design, Hybrid & Virtual Tagged With: , conference recordings, conferences, content capture, hybrid meetings, virtual event
Michele Frania Joins the Velvet Chainsaw Team April 9, 2013 by Dave Lutz I’m excited to announce that Michele Frania has joined the Velvet Chainsaw team as of April 8, 2013 as Director, Client Projects & Stories! Michele will be working out of our brand new offices in Twinsburg, Ohio. For the past couple years, Michele worked for brandmuscle as a Client Service Manager where she led the … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings
Five Symptoms That Your Expo Is About To Fail March 25, 2013 by Dave Lutz I’d estimate that maybe 25 percent of those reading this post would do better to sunset your expo for either your annual or topical conference. Are you stunned by this statement? Hear me out. While most associations crave non-dues revenue, sometimes the expo portion of your program is a drag on profit speed. Perhaps it’s … [Read more…] Filed Under: Business Model, Sponsorship & Exhibits Tagged With: , business strategies, expositions, tradeshow, tradeshows
Are Your Conference Panels Stuck In A Time Warp? March 20, 2013 by Dave Lutz Watch a re-run of That 70’s Show and you’ll notice that paneling was all the rage back then. It was affordable, easy to install and a sure sign of homeowner coolness. It was so cool, we even slapped it on the family sedan. Today, paneling is a major turnoff for home buyers. [Can you see … [Read more…] Filed Under: Conference Education, Experience Design Tagged With: , conference education, panel discussion
My Apologies – Gary Rottman February 28, 2013 by Dave Lutz Yesterday, we received notice that an article I penned in the October, 2012 issue of Convene – Is Your Conference Marketing So Last Year? included content that was lifted from Rottman Creative Group’s Manifesto. The article included concepts that were created during collaboration with other parties for a couple of industry presentations. We wrongly … [Read more…] Filed Under: Ramblings
